David Hobby wrote: > >> Uh? Really? The last time I read about it, the only > > KNOWN > >> perfect numbers were the few that came from... >> 2^(n-1) (2^n - 1) > Right. I should have written the known part. It was yet unknown if there were odd perfect numbers.
OTOH, IIRC the number of odd perfect numbers is infinite, as there are infinite prime Mersenne numbers. >> What is the smallest known odd perfect number? > > Why it is: > > 235465427730240065113511519531(snip) > No, it isn't. Do you have any idea about it? Something like "it's between 10^10^100 and 10^10^... (100 times) ... 10^100" Alberto Monteiro PS: I once thought about a computer contest, something like: given an extension of a computer language [like C] where the integer type is unbound and memory is unbound, write a set of functions that use only x charaters [or tokens] such that one of them returns the biggest number in a finite time. The first step would be the generalization of the power function to the next level: a *** 1 = a, a *** (n+1) = a ^ (a *** n). The next step would be a function that takes multiplication, power, and this superpower as members of a sequence of functions. The next step would be the next generation of this superfunction, and then the generalization of all these generalizations. really big numbers Maru _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
